Cattle

Through the calf’s eye: Exploring infrared thermography to uncover pair-housed calves’ affective states

Pair housing has been proven to improve calves’ welfare during the pre-weaning phase, potentially promoting positive emotions. Based on the emotional valence hypothesis, according to which positive emotions are mainly processed in the left brain hemisphere, infrared thermography (IRT) may...

Year Published: 2026Topics: Emotion, Pain, & Sentience, Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: Cattle

Citation: Rossi, G. P., Barbieri, S., Costa, E. D. et al. 2026. Through the calf’s eye: Exploring infrared thermography to uncover pair-housed calves’ affective states. Animals 16(2).

Impact of transport source (dairy farms vs. collection center) and post-arrival housing in combination with prophylactic antibiotic treatment on performance, lung health and microbiota of veal calves

Transport via a collection center and early life administration of antibiotics are two major challenges faced by calves in current veal husbandry management. The main aim of this proof of concept study was to investigate the effects of these two...

Year Published: 2026Topics: Relocation & TransportAnimal Type: Cattle

Citation: Marcato, F., Schokker, D., Stockhofe-Zurwieden, N. et al. 2026. Impact of transport source (dairy farms vs. collection center) and post-arrival housing in combination with prophylactic antibiotic treatment on performance, lung health and microbiota of veal calves. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 13.

Main husbandry practices and health conditions that affect welfare in calves: A narrative review

Calf welfare is critically influenced by early-life husbandry practices and health conditions. This narrative review synthesizes current evidence on key management practices affecting calf welfare, including calving, colostrum intake, milk feeding, water provision, weaning, housing, mutilations, and transport. A structured...

Year Published: 2025Topics: Body Modification/Mutilation, Housing, Husbandry & Management, Rearing & Weaning, Relocation & TransportAnimal Type: Cattle

Citation: Mainau, E., Goby, L., Manteca, X. 2025. Main husbandry practices and health conditions that affect welfare in calves: A narrative review. Animals 15(21).

Non-invasive physiological indicators of welfare in dairy cows

Indicators of dairy cow welfare are important for the future assessment and improvement of cow welfare on-farm. The objective of this study was to investigate three categories of non-invasive physiological parameters as potential indicators of welfare in dairy cows, namely...

Year Published: 2026Topics: Biological Sampling & Physiological Measurement, Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: Cattle

Citation: Kremer, L., Reenen, K. van, Kok, A. et al. 2026. Non-invasive physiological indicators of welfare in dairy cows. Animal Welfare 35, e10.

Care and welfare of animals in a high containment unit

The Pirbright Institute is a world-leading centre of excellence in the research and surveillance of viral diseases of livestock and viruses that spread from animals to humans. In this field some animal models cannot be replaced and due to the...

Year Published: 2025Topics: Environmental EnrichmentAnimal Type: Cattle, Goat, Pig, Sheep

Citation: Carder, L. 2025. Care and welfare of animals in a high containment unit. Animal Technology and Welfare 24(3), 248–250.

Evaluating the impact of housing modifications on milk infrared spectra as indicators of dairy cow welfare status

The objective of this study was to explore whether milk mid-infrared (MIR) spectral patterns could reflect physiological responses to improved housing conditions aimed at enhancing dairy cow comfort and ease of movement. Three controlled animal trials were conducted to test...

Year Published: 2025Topics: Housing, Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: Cattle

Citation: Bahadi, M., Warner, D., Ismail, A. A. et al. 2025. Evaluating the impact of housing modifications on milk infrared spectra as indicators of dairy cow welfare status. Scientific Reports 15(1), 45791.

A review of welfare indicators of indoor-housed dairy cow as a basis for integrated automatic welfare assessment systems

For on-farm welfare assessment many automatic methods have been developed to detect indicators of reduced welfare. However, there is still a need to integrate data from single sources to obtain a complete picture of the welfare of an animal. This...

Year Published: 2020Topics: Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: Cattle

Citation: Leliveld, L. M. C., Provolo, G. 2020. A review of welfare indicators of indoor-housed dairy cow as a basis for integrated automatic welfare assessment systems. Animals 10(8), 1430.

Effects of pair versus individual housing on performance, health, and behavior of dairy calves

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of pair versus individual housing on performance, health, and behavior of dairy calves. Thirty female Holstein dairy calves were assigned to individual (n = 10) or pair housing (n =...

Year Published: 2020Topics: Social Housing & CompanionshipAnimal Type: Cattle

Citation: Liu, S., Ma, J., Li, J. et al. 2020. Effects of pair versus individual housing on performance, health, and behavior of dairy calves. Animals 10(1), 50.

Large group housing systems in fattening bulls—Comparison of behavior and performance

According to international housing recommendations, fattening bulls should not be housed in groups of more than 12–20 animals. However, there are no scientific studies supporting these recommendations as most studies on fattening cattle refer to smaller groups. Therefore, the aim...

Year Published: 2020Topics: Social Housing & CompanionshipAnimal Type: Cattle

Citation: Schneider, L., Volkmann, N., Spindler, B. et al. 2020. Large group housing systems in fattening bulls—Comparison of behavior and performance. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 7, 543335.

The effect of early housing and companion experience on the grazing and ruminating behaviour of naïve heifers on pasture

Calves reared on pasture learn to graze from their dam and conspecifics during weaning. Social learning can be beneficial for calf performance and welfare, and pair-housing and companionship on pasture have been proposed as management practices to develop efficient foraging...

Year Published: 2020Topics: Social Housing & CompanionshipAnimal Type: Cattle

Citation: Arrazola, A., Dicker, K., Vasseur, E. et al. 2020. The effect of early housing and companion experience on the grazing and ruminating behaviour of naïve heifers on pasture. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 226, 104993.